Rail strikes leave East Midlands city stations without trains

Major East Midlands stations will be left without trains

Rail companies in the East Midlands have been left unable to operate any trains due to industrial action by unions.

Both East Midlands Railway (EMR) and CrossCountry have been affected.

Train drivers' union Aslef and the RMT union are striking over pay issues and working conditions.

The train companies said there would be "significant disruption" on Saturday and people would need to find alternative methods of travel.

The strikes will mean no trains will run from several of the region's major railway stations, including Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.

Will Rogers, managing director for EMR, said: "Unfortunately, we will be unable to run any services."

Mark Goodall, director of service delivery at CrossCountry said: "The latest round of strikes are set to cause further disruption for passengers at a time when we should be focusing on rebuilding confidence in rail."

However, the unions told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they were disappointed to have to strike on Saturday.

An Aslef spokesperson said: "If the government freed the train operating companies to make a sensible offer to train drivers, this dispute would be over tomorrow.

"We only have a problem and are only in dispute with 15 train companies, where their drivers and our members have not had an increased salary since 2019. They need to make a sensible offer, and that hasn't been done."

It is expected that services will run according to the usual timetable again on Sunday. But the rail unions have warned further strikes are planned.

The government has said the strikes were co-ordinated to disrupt major events, such as the FA Cup Final.